The Spirit Man

This post is very much meant to be understood in the context of the last post. If you have not read it, please start there.

Let me start out by saying that everything I said in my last post is true. However, it is also true that God created us as Spiritual and Emotional beings. We must live a life in balance. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman the true worshippers worship in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).

So what exactly does that mean? First, I think it means we have to know what the truth is. We have to test everything to find the truth. See the last post for that discussion.

Second, and more pertinent to the discussion of this post, we must always recognize the Spirit of God. We must understand that ” the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight” (I Corinthians 3:19). Because of our fallen state, the very same wisdom that God granted us and demands that we use, is mere foolishness compared to his own level of understanding.

This does not mean that we turn our back on wisdom and logic. Take Solomon as an example. When God asked Solomon what he wanted more than anything in the world, Solomon asked for wisdom. God was so pleased with his answer, that he rewarded him with not only wisdom, but blessed him with immense riches. So, Solomon desired wisdom and God was pleased with that. God is pleased when we seek out and utilize wisdom. However, when we look at Ecclesiastes, a book written late in Solomon’s life, we see the result of Solomon’s great wisdom. His theme is essentially that everything on this side of eternity is “a chasing after the wind” (Ecclesiastes, like all over it).

So, the result of Solomon’s wisdom, was ultimately a realization that nothing in this world really matters outside of pleasing God. He realized that all his great wisdom was foolishness. He comes to the beautiful conclusion that the entire purpose of man is to “fear God and keep his commands” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

So, while critical thinking, logic, and reason, are all amazing gifts born out of the nature of God, we must always remember that his wisdom far surpasses our own. And if you ask, every once in a while he will let you in on some of his own.

The Thinking Man

It seems to me that for far too long the Christian community has happily turned away from the habit of critical thinking.

We are far too content to go to church on Sunday, listen to a message, and simply accept it at face value. We tell ourselves that if the pastor says it, it must be right. While that is hopefully the case, this certainly does not fit in with the image we see in I Thessalonians of “testing all things.” We are to be listeners who put every word we hear through the filter of Scripture to see if it holds up.

Maybe this is partly the fault of pastors. I am not a pastor, and I have the utmost respect for them and how hard they work every week. However, I don’t recall Jesus standing up and giving a three point sermon. He taught in parables so that “those who have ears to hear” would hear. I have always wondered what in the world that was supposed to mean. It is such a weird answer to the question asked of Jesus. But I think it is possible that he meant he wants people to have to walk away and wrestle with what he had to say. He wanted them to think about it. Jesus was not about spoon feeding the masses so they would all understand. Jesus was about making you think. He did not want the casual follower, he wanted the follower committed to thinking through the message before it snapped into focus. Maybe pastors are so well trained in effective communication, they make it too easy to be a casual listener.

Even so, we are called to think. Romans 12:2 talks about testing all things to discern what is the will of God. Philippians 4:8 gives a list of filters that ideas must pass through before we allow them to take root in our minds. We must think.

Thus the title of this blog. Cogitate. It is the Latin command to think. If reading this makes you think, then I have done my job.